Another Poem About a Charley Harper Painting

You cannot blame a child
for wanting to bob stupidly
on a lake in a fibreglass parody
of a boat: it is a right
as inalienable as that
which binds a stick
to its dog. There is a path
that goes around the lake
twice – once each way –
and jetties on the bank
where fish can be pulled
like teeth, at an alarming
rate. The heron looks
at the pink stiff-necked
things with ineffective
mouths, and wonders
how something can be
both driven and directionless.